GTX 1080 SLi review from TechPowerUp

cageymaru

cageymaru

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GTX 1080 SLi review.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 SLI Review

From glancing over the numbers, it's CPU limited at 1440p and scales decently at 4K. Everything less than 1440 is completely and utterly useless for GTX 1080 SLi.

Of note in the article there HB Bridge test is awesome. Well it shows that the HB bridge is sh*t for a single monitor, but it will save you money with this knowledge. The Performance per Dollar page is really cool. It shows which card is really worth it in the grand scheme of things. I'm glad they tested Just Cause 3. Someone on these boards always complains about SLi / Crossfire not working in the game. Development team said that they weren't interested in the tech and this review shows their commitment to that statement.

Have fun discussing the numbers.

I wish there was a 3rd CPU manufacturer... :inpain:




Hope someone argues that 1080 SLI @1080p resolutions is viable.
 
Glad to see SLI works great at 4K as I intend to SLI to empower 3440x1440 UltraWide resolution gaming.
 
Interesting to see the "new" SLI bridge makes virtually no difference, even at 4k. I'm guessing that's not something NVidia wanted TechPowerUp to look at.
 
Interesting about the HB bridge. I have one coming to me, could be a waste of $40. Like someone else mentioned in the other thread I'm curious if this bridge has any improvement on framtimes.
 
For frame time, you'd really need to exceed the 1 GB/sec bandwidth. I mean, this technically should be possible if running 1440p @ 144+Hz or 4k @ 60+Hz or 3440 x 1440 @100+Hz. All of the previous barely would be below the bandwidth and give exact frame times if just running without overclocks. It really seems like the bridge is designed for surround gaming or 5k resolution (which would exceed ~36 fps).
 
Porter_ said:
Interesting about the HB bridge. I have one coming to me, could be a waste of $40. Like someone else mentioned in the other thread I'm curious if this bridge has any improvement on framtimes.
Click to expand...

Good god, they're charging $40 for that piece of cable housed in plastic?
 
Jacob @ EVGA has confirmed that the focus of the HB bridges is to improve frame times / frame pacing.
 
I'm going to wait until I feel my setup stuttering at 1440p@144hz. I dont feel any stuttering currently using an EVGA LED bridge, don't see a reason to buy this yet.
 
Sweet Jebus...23 pages. Way to milk for those ad views, TPU.

Thanks for the heads up on this article. Good info here. Still happy to have the HB bridge. If you're going to do 1080 SLI why would you not? You just spent ~$1300 or more. It's $40.

cageymaru said:
I wish there was a 3rd CPU manufacturer... :inpain:




Hope someone argues that 1080 SLI @1080p resolutions is viable.
Click to expand...

I'll bite.

Why are we in need of a 3rd CPU manufacturer (implying CPU limitations) and yet at 1080p you're saying a 1080 SLI setup is not viable?
 
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sk3tch said:
Sweet Jebus...23 pages. Way to milk for those ad views, TPU.

Thanks for the heads up on this article. Good info here. Still happy to have the HB bridge. If you're going to do 1080 SLI why would you not? You just spent ~$1300 or more. It's $40.



I'll bite.

Why are we in need of a 3rd CPU manufacturer (implying CPU limitations) and yet at 1080p you're saying a 1080 SLI setup is not viable?
Click to expand...

Neither Intel or AMD are giving us more power that makes a real difference in gaming. I was of the mindset that the reason that some of the 1080p benches didn't scale was because they were CPU limited and that's sad. I don't know the limit of GSYNC, but FreeSync has an upper limit of 240Hz if a monitor existed that could handle it. AMD and Nvidia like to talk about crazy frame rates and miniscule frame times for VR. Can't do that if the CPU chokes out the video card. Thus I'd like to see a 3rd CPU manufacturer to keep everyone honest like the Android market. Lots of new phones and a power increase every new generation. Just like when AMD and Intel cared instead of telling us why their current offerings are "good enough".

1080p resolutions in some of the games where SLi worked well at 1440p and 4K only tied with a single GTX 1080. BF3, BF4, Fallout 4, FarCry Primal, GTA V, etc. Then take into account the fact that many games didn't have SLi scaling at all; it ended up making SLi look bad. Also you would want great scaling at 1080p for the gamer with 160Hz+ monitors. CPU manufacturer said F that; not going to feed the cards.

Supposedly the HB bridge allows for better frame times which are always welcomed. I didn't realize that before I said what I said. I try not to edit things so I'll leave it as is.
 
Looks good (and thankfully because I already bought two 1080s).

The big thing for me was running on Nvidia Surround. At 7680x1440 (at 144Hz) it's very hard to run at full speed, even with older games.

Will see tonight if there are any gains there versus Tri-SLI 980's.
 
cybereality said:
Looks good (and thankfully because I already bought two 1080s).

The big thing for me was running on Nvidia Surround. At 7680x1440 (at 144Hz) it's very hard to run at full speed, even with older games.

Will see tonight if there are any gains there versus Tri-SLI 980's.
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How can that "look good" when 5 of the 16 games do not even work in SLI at all? :confused:
 
Looks good meaning the games that scale, scale very well (close to 100% in some cases).

I've been running SLI for long enough to know that not every game will work, so it's not entirely surprising,

And you never know if a new Nvidia driver or game update can solve the problem.
 
How the hell did TPU manage near 60fps with SLI 970's at 4k with Fallout 4?
 
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Such a weird review. 20+ pages just to get more page views.... comparing it to 970 SLI and not 980 or 980Ti SLI??? No frame times / pacing..... no min / max.....

Now I know why I never go to their site for proper reviews. PCPER.com does the best reviews.
 
I did my own 1080 SLI benchmarks in a couple games. Seems very playable at the monstrous 7680x1440 resolution.

Bench_DOOM.jpg


Bench_GTAV.jpg


Bench_TombRaider.jpg
 
SLI actually seems viable. I get decent frames at 4K on my single o/ced 1080, but sli performance in 4K is a huge bump. Might actually be worth it.
 
The games that work with SLI certainly seem to scale well. If DX12 EMA works well in future games, then it looks like we will be finally able to game at 4k with good frames. Personally, I welcome this as I'd love to get a 4k monitor in the future.
 
Hi, I just signed up today, but have been a pretty long-time [H] reader (even based my MSI 970 purchase on their review).

I wanted to share interesting results (that I also posted in the TPU thread for this review) that was done by Hardware Unboxed regarding the 1080 in SLI (link can't be posted here due to restrictions).

Big gains can apparently be had from the HB Bridge vs old Flex Bridge depending on the title (Fallout 4, Black Ops 3, Witcher 3). Thing is, the HB results could be replicated by putting 2 Flex Bridges together, so the gain is not from the HB Bridge itself, but from the linking of both SLI connectors. I've asked in TPU if they could look into it, but if anyone has a 1080 SLI setup here, and can replicate his results, that should bring some things to talk about this dual-link SLI thing.
 
InquisitorDavid said:
Hi, I just signed up today, but have been a pretty long-time [H] reader (even based my MSI 970 purchase on their review).

I wanted to share interesting results (that I also posted in the TPU thread for this review) that was done by Hardware Unboxed regarding the 1080 in SLI (link can't be posted here due to restrictions).

Big gains can apparently be had from the HB Bridge vs old Flex Bridge depending on the title (Fallout 4, Black Ops 3, Witcher 3). Thing is, the HB results could be replicated by putting 2 Flex Bridges together, so the gain is not from the HB Bridge itself, but from the linking of both SLI connectors. I've asked in TPU if they could look into it, but if anyone has a 1080 SLI setup here, and can replicate his results, that should bring some things to talk about this dual-link SLI thing.
Click to expand...

yeah a few members on OCN were talking about using two flexible bridges last week (maybe even earlier than that, i just happened to read it last week). would be interesting to see some valid testing.
 
The same TPU review tested HB Bridges and came to the conclusion that the HB Bridge wasn't needed VS the old single bridge, so I'm hoping either they or someone else picks up the indicated games and verifies if twin Ribbons and the HB Bridge has similar gains vs single-ribbon.

Also correction: BO3 didn't have big gains, The Division did. Rest of the titles are accurate.
 
i added a second 1070 last night, great scaling in The Division and BF4. fantastic performance.
 
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